Peshawar - As the night falls, the food streets in Peshawar come to life as the food outlets get a bustle of visitors in the premises.
Peshawar Saddar is home to one such official food street located on both sides of Fawara Chowk, but it has been marred by the vehicular traffic as the administration has failed to make it an auto-free zone. The premises offer a wide variety of foods, including Kabuli Pulao, Kebab, Tikka, Naan, Peshawari Qehwa, etc.
Speaking to The Nation, several foodies at the venue complained that the government authorities were not giving due attention to the premises.
Tariq Aziz, a Peshawarite, told this scribe that he daily visits the food street which offers all traditional foods of the provincial capital. However, he complained that there was no check from the government authorities on cars and rickshaws that ply the premises with impunity.
“If the vehicles are stopped from plying in the food street, family would be able to enjoy the food street and its foods,” he added.
To a query about the top foods in winter, he said Tikka, barbeque, soup and particularly Peshawari Qehwa were enjoyed by most people in this season.
Another foodie, Kamran Khan, a governmetn servant, while sipping Qehwa at a shop, said that he enjoys Qehwa at the food street on a daily basis in the evenings. He said naans, gol gappay, fruit chaat, Kashmiri Chaye, Tandoori Chaye, etc were also available. However, he complained that there was an issue of parking and many visitors cannot enjoy the food street because they could not find place to park their vehicles near the premises.
“Here, we also lack a traditional food street environment, such as serving food in the open, proper seating in the premises for families and the ban on vehicle traffic,” he added.
The food street at Saddar located between Nauthia Road and main Saddar Road has dozens of shops and restaurants offering almost all kinds of traditional and fast food. However, the administration has failed to ban the movement of vehicles in the premises, which creates a mess and become a hurdle in the enjoyment of foodies and visitors.
It may be mentioned here that there is another food street located on the Heritage Trail in Peshawar city. There too, the authorities had banned the transport and vehicular traffic when it was inaugurated but later the administration bowed to certain mafia and allowed the use of the Heritage Trail and food street by vehicular traffic, which disturbed the environment of the food streets, particularly the plants on both sides of the Heritage Trail.